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Vienna, WordCamp EU, and Gustav Klimt

I have been remiss in not posting anything for days and days but I have been so busy. WordCamp EU 2016 is now over and all I can say is, WOW! It was so huge with over 2000 people turning up and more than a hundred volunteers. The best part for me was seeing old friends and making new ones.

It has been torturously hot in Vienna every day until today with temperatures around 33°C. When we left Aberdeen it was about 12°C and so we really struggled with the heat. The thunderstorm finally arrived last night and with it, a cool change.

WordCamp was held in the very lovely Museum Quarter in central Vienna in this building:

Some talks were in the neighbouring Leopold Museum which was just lovely. Imagine sitting listening to all things WordPress with art in every direction. How inspiring!

All my life I have wanted to see Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss, and today my wish came true. It’s bigger than I was expecting and the gold, so sparkly. We were not allowed to take photos of the real painting but they had a fake for selfies in a neighbouring room. Here we are with the fake:

Apparently Gustav Klimt had an insatiable appetite for sex and fathered three known illegitimate children. Perhaps because of this no-one is 100% sure who the woman in the painting is.

We’re staying at the very cool 25 Hours Hotel. I love this place! All the staff here seem to have tattoos and nose rings – I wonder whether it’s a requirement for the job? I knew it was the right place to stay when I saw the sign out front:

This is my kind of place.

Art is everywhere, even on the wall above our bed. To complement this theme our room came with juggling balls and a hula hoop.

The entrance to one of the hotel restaurants looks like this:

Here’s a lounge area in the lobby. You can’t really see it in the photo but the coffee table is a see-saw although you’re not supposed to sit on it.

There’s a kids’ museum here and just outside is a giant waterbed covered in astroturf. This is a photo of Daniel attacking me.